Nobody likes Donald Trump, except the voters. Like Rob Ford, he is largely a self-inflicted wound on the part of the political class, who could easily be rid of him if they would just be a little less godawfully political.

To be sure, Trump is a skilled self-promoter and a surprisingly good deal-maker who has accumulated a multi-billion dollar fortune due to some real virtues as well as some appalling defects well suited to the times. But he’s an egotistical buffoon with no real solutions to America’s pressing problems. Which makes his popularity a sorry comment on his adversaries.

Consider, if you can bear to, The Donald’s performance in the Republican debate. Not just his post-debate crack about Megyn Kelly, or his refusal to rule out a third-party run. Consider, rather, that every other participant there was itching to tell him to his face, “You’re an offensive unstable windbag and a fake Republican so get off the stage,” but none of them had the guts to do it.

Everybody watching knew this. But there they stood, throughout, paralyzed by devious calculations about his appeal to the base versus his unpopularity with undecided suburban women, desperate to project friendly competence, trying to straddle various camps with soothing banalities, terrified that Trump will sink the party if he stays or if he goes. All they did in the end was radiate cowardly hypocrisy. And nobody wants to vote for that.

Only very rarely, by the same accident that leads a blind pig to the occasional acorn, does he say something true in the sense of corresponding with reality.

Trump, by contrast, blurts out whatever is on what passes for his mind. We do not wish to oversell this. He tells the “truth” in the sense of saying what he believes, or at any rate what the rest of the world wishes he wouldn’t. But only very rarely, by the same accident that leads a blind pig to the occasional acorn, does he say something true in the sense of corresponding with reality. Yet even his narcissistic bluntness is a welcome contrast to the rest of the field.

Take Jeb Bush. He doesn’t seem to be running for president for any cause dearer to his heart than a third-Bush-second-Clinton grudge match. There’s no Reaganesque determination to restore America’s strength abroad and its dynamism at home, no echo of Margaret Thatcher’s iconic 1979 interview cri de coeur: “I can’t bear Britain in decline. I just can’t. We who either defeated or rescued half Europe, who kept half Europe free, when otherwise it would be in chains. And look at us now.”

Obviously there was a stinging rebuke in Thatcher’s remark. What mainstream politician today would dare tell voters “look at us now” in that reproachful tone? Yet she won that election and became the longest-serving prime minister in modern British history, as Reagan won two landslides for himself and one for his feckless successor.

It’s not enough for Republicans to show some grit and boot Trump off the stage come what may. They also need to be blunt with voters about which policies aren’t working and why, develop a sense of humour about their own failings, be frank that “no pain no gain” applies strongly in public affairs and stop reciting bland reassuring talking points nobody thinks they believe.

Trump’s 15 minutes of fame have gone on far too long. But like Rob Ford, he’s the product of voters so starved for honesty they turn to transparent boors, taking boorishness as a simulacrum for candour. The temptation will remain until they get some genuine honesty from the non-boors.